I'd been wanting to make ice-cream again and have friends over for a Sundae Sunday (yes, I am that cheezy) but with everyone's schedules being so busy, it just hadn't yet been planned.

Enter the Daring Baker challenge. Make your own Swiss Roll, and then use it to make a cake. An ice-cream cake. With home-made ice-cream. w00t!!!!!

Swiss Swirl Ice-Cream Cake

We were given freedom in flavours and presentation, but the main idea had to be kept the same. Line a dish with slices of Swiss Roll, then fill with an ice-cream, a sauce and another layer of ice-cream.

So much freedom! And what did I do? Pretty much stuck to the recipe as given.

Prepping the Swiss Roll tinsFolding in the flour and cocoa

As I mentioned, everyone's schedules seem to be rammed with events, including my own. I haven't had a weekend at home in pj's in over two months, I'm not complaining! Life is really busy at the moment but I'm really enjoying it. Unfortunately this does effect my imaginative thinking when it comes to the challenges.

I mean, come on, any flavour ice-cream? Any flavour Swiss Roll with any flavoured filling? How awesome is that?! And all I managed were 2 very simple ice-cream cakes. *sigh* I need a holiday!

Lining the pans with Swiss RollFirst layer of ice-cream is already set, now the choc fudge sauce layer is ready for the freezer

I also messed up on the presentation. Purely my fault too, total procrastination! We'd invited friends over for lunch and this would be the dessert. Unfortunately, due to my lack of planning, I was still assembling the ice-cream cake when they arrived. The ice-cream was softer than it should have been (you really shouldn't be trying to make lunch and ice-cream cake at the same time!) so the chocolate ice-cream seeped out and I ended up with ice-cream on the outside of the cake, covering the lovely Swiss Roll swirls. Meh!

Where are all the beautiful Swiss Swirls?! :(

Presentation aside, they tasted great. Both cakes were lined with chocolate Swiss roll filled with whipped cream (actually, failed chocolate ice-cream, don't ask... :P ). The one had a layer of coffee ice-cream, choc fudge sauce and chocolate ice-cream. The other I made more kid friendly, vanilla ice-cream with marshmallows, choc fudge sauce and choc chip ice-cream. Yum!

The recipes I'm giving below are just for the Swiss Roll and choc fudge sauce given to us by the challenge hostess. The chocolate ice-cream recipe I used in my cakes was also from the challenge, but although it was easy to make I found it to be too sweet, so I'd like to play around with the recipe a bit more. I used my own recipe for the vanilla and coffee ice-cream but I'll be doing them in a separate post at a later time.

Mmmm... coffee ice-cream, choc fudge sauce & choc chip ice-cream

I really am quite bleak that I didn't get this challenge done to its full potential, given the right amount of time (read, not procrastinating!) and planning, this is a lot of fun to assemble and the flavour options are limitless!

Swiss Roll

Ingredients

6 Medium Eggs

1 cup Caster Sugar + extra for rolling

6 Tbsp All Purpose (plain) Flour

5 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 Tbsp Boiling Water

Oil for brushing the pans

For the filling

2 cups / 500 ml Whipping Cream

Seeds from 1 Vanilla Pod

5 Tbsp Caster Sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven at 200°C (180°C Fan Assisted) / 400°F

Brush the baking pans (11" x 9") with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper

Tip: If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds

Tip: I don't have a stand mixer and this step took me about 25-30mins

Tip: If you beat the sugar & eggs over a pot of simmering water, this should speed up the process (Wish I'd read that tip before I started!)

Sift the flour and cocoa together

Add the flour mixture in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula

Fold in the water

Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans

Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch

Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle with caster sugar

Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper

Trim any crisp edges

Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside

Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down

Repeat the same for the next cake as well

Prepare the filling

Add the sugar and vanilla seeds to the cream

Beat till very thick

Fill the Swiss Rolls

Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes

Carefully unroll the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine)

Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup Caster Sugar

3 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 Tbsp Cornflour / Cornstarch

1½ cups Water

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water

Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth, about 2 minutes

Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla

Keep aside to cool

Straight out the oven and ready to be rolled

Assemble the Ice-Cream Cake

Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 2 cms each)

Cover the bottom and sides of a bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap

Tip: I used 2 loaf tins

Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other

Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm, at least 30 minutes

Soften the vanilla ice cream

Tip: Leave at room temperature for about 15mins or in the fridge for about 30mins. Be careful that it doesn't melt too much otherwise it will seep through any gaps

Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices

Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm, at least 1 hour

Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm, at least an hour

Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce

Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set

Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl

Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining

Tip: If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is

Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water

Sunita, thanks for this fantastic challenge, mine didn't come out the way I would have liked but it was fun to make and great to eat! :)